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Monday, August 06, 2007

I need a little help. I write this blog for you, but I have no idea how it looks on your computer. Please take a few seconds to compare the text samples below and let me know which one you think looks the best. Then simply leave a comment with your choice: A, B, C, or D. A & B are the same font, Verdana, in different sizes. C is Georgia.

8/7/07 Update: Many thanks to all of you who have already taken the time to respond. I really appreciate it, and the extra info you've offered is very helpful. I personally like Choice A the best (obviously, since I've been using it), but lately I've been thinking that this type might be too small for some people to comfortably read. So far it's looking like I may be right, and that Choice B might be the better way to go. Legibility over looks! Now if I could only figure out a way to please all of the people all of the time. : )

Any other feedback regarding the visual and technical aspects of Farmgirl Fare, both positive and negative, is welcome and greatly appreciated. Feel free to leave an anonymous comment if you wish. Thanks so much!

Choice A:

Cooling Off With A Look Back At WinterJournal entry -- December 8, 1995It was snowing when I got up this morning, and everything was already covered in white. I could see the dogs curled up in each side of their duplex doghouse, but the only cat to be found was Buster.* He was crouching on the patio in front of the house, about to pounce on a lone brown bird pecking at the ground beneath the bird feeder. He wiggled that way cats do when they're ready to attack, but before he could lunge the bird fluttered away.

There were two bright red cardinals in a nearby bush, but Buster's attentions had moved on to the snow. He was busy chasing invisible creatures, leaping with his paws out in front of him, splashing through the powder. He went back and forth, back and forth all over the patio. Within seconds the entire blanket of pristine snow had been torn up by little cat feet.

Choice B:

Cooling Off With A Look Back At WinterJournal entry -- December 8, 1995It was snowing this morning, and everything was covered in white. I could see the dogs curled up in each side of their duplex doghouse, but the only cat to be found was Buster.* He was crouching on the patio in front of the house, about to pounce at a lone brown bird pecking at the ground beneath the bird feeder. He wiggled that way cats do when they're ready to attack, but before he could lunge, the bird fluttered away.

There were two bright red cardinals in a nearby bush, but Buster's attentions had moved on to the snow. He was busy chasing invisible creatures, leaping with his paws out in front of him, splashing through the powder. He went back and forth, back and forth all over the patio. Within seconds the entire blanket of pristine snow had been torn up by little cat feet.

Choice C:

Cooling Off With A Look Back At WinterJournal entry -- December 8, 1995It was snowing this morning, and everything was covered in white. I could see the dogs curled up in each side of their duplex doghouse, but the only cat to be found was Buster.* He was crouching on the patio in front of the house, about to pounce at a lone brown bird pecking at the ground beneath the bird feeder. He wiggled that way cats do when they're ready to attack, but before he could lunge, the bird fluttered away.

There were two bright red cardinals in a nearby bush, but Buster's attentions had moved on to the snow. He was busy chasing invisible creatures, leaping with his paws out in front of him, splashing through the powder. He went back and forth, back and forth all over the patio. Within seconds the entire blanket of pristine snow had been torn up by little cat feet.

Choice D:You mean people read all this stuff? I only stop by for the photos.

*Buster was Molly Doodlebug's dad. She looks like a miniature version of him and even struts around trying to look tough like he used to, though of course it doesn't work since she only weighs 4-1/2 pounds.

C should be best.I believe that's Times New Roman which is a "seraph" font as opposed to Arial which is a "sans-seraph" font. I learned years ago in a high school journalism class that seraph-style fonts are the easiest to read because the curves in the letters help the eye flow easily over the text. I've used it ever since.BTW, I'm a first time poster and will be visiting my parents in Missouri later this month (coming from Australia) and am hoping your bakery is open by then.

As for other style elements on the blog I think that overall it looks crisp and I love changing seasons in the header. One addition that I would love would be a printer friendly veresion of your recipes.

And thanks for the tip that blueberries can be frozen straight into the bag. I had been individual freezing before stocking all our snack packs into the deep freeze. Today I just filled the baggies and threw them in the freezer!

How interesting this poll is!i prefer C, since i have never enjoyed reading large amounts of text in sans serf fonts. But, i agree with the criticisms that it is not an ideal spacing (Blogger, i'm sure, doesn't allow for other options on that front). Also, my keyboard (a cheap one!) allows me to enlarge text on my screen to fit the needs of my eyes any given day or hour.

B is the easiest with my old eyes, but I'll be reading no matter which font you choose. I'd be lost without all the critters, Dan most of all, and Buddy Bear, and the sheep, and the cats. Oh, and the recipes..... Well, you see my problem.

well after reading a lot of the other comments and then going back and re-looking at the fonts--I thought I liked B but now i like C or D. B seems to have to much spacing between lines,on my computer.But--now wait a minuteI just went to the Feed and looked and now i'm back to liking b. Oh I'm sure glad you have to make the finial choose and not us readers!!I know I would not be able to. I really enjoy your blog and have to agree with "leah s" that it would be nice to be able to print the recipes out. maybe even with pictures.I will still read you blog no matter what font you chose.(sp)thanks for the look into the west.i live in the east.hehelori

It will largely depend on the screen resolution. I use 1152 x 864, so B looks best to me, but I don't see the fonts you specified since I use Linux. How the page looks will vary greatly with the user's choice of operating system and browser.

C, in my opinion is not a good choice. While serif fonts are better for the printed page, it is generally excepted that sans serif fonts are better for the screen.

B is my choice. I like a little bigger type. BUT, I would look for your blog anywhere and read it no matter what font or size it is in. Your writing is so entertaining and touching. Thank you for doing it.

I'm a big fan of verdana, everywhere. so, I vote A, B is too large for me.and yes, I read ALL your stuff, and I really love it. I live in Italy, and your blogs (both of them, cause I love the kitchen garden too) are like an open window on the other side of the world. a lovely window. thank'you!cheers,chiara

Hey. I, too, like "A" the best... but I am almost certain that's because it's what I'm used to. In contrast, "B" feels like looking at a learn-to-read book, but I'm betting heavily I'd get used to it in a flash if it didn't have the smaller fonts around it.

Georgia is one of my favorite fonts, but I really like the straight-forward no-frills feel of Verdandi for your site. Call it country ;)

I like B best. As I age larger print is easier to read. I just love your photos and your web site. I am so glad that I found it. Thanks for the having a positive influence in the world. I have tried your recipes and enjoy them also.

I like B best of the choices. Usually I prefer a serif type, but if I compare larger san serif with smaller serif, I prefer the san serif larger. I have the same question about my own blog. Maybe i should increase the type.

Hi Farmgirl,I pick A or C. B is too geriatric and doesn't add to the fun, fresh, classy-ness of your blog. For all the whiners about A being too small you can always adjust your text size on your browser to LARGE.

A is lovely, but B makes it much easier to read with the same lovely font. B is like driving on a nice road with wonderfully roomy lanes! :-) Thanks for being so considerate to ask for reader feedback!

Definitely B...if you wanted hits as a result of posting on Blog School, then count me among them. I am 58 and my vision probably differs from some of your younger readers, but "B" is definitely the easiest for me to read.

well, i am going to be totally different here. the fonts all appear the same to me on my browser except for size -- maybe i need to update my browser. If you ask me, I love the photos... where are the llamas?

First choice- C, second choice- B. A is just to small to read comfortably when sitting back in my chair!Thanks for asking-- I really think these are important issues, especially as I have frequently given up reading interesting blogs simply because their black backgrounds or too light-colored words were difficult to process.

I actually like B (bigger san serif type ... looks like Arial), but did you know that studies indicate that type with serifs is actually easier and more natural for people to read? That's why most newspapers use type with serifs (those are the little tails on the letters, as opposed to the plain block letters).

I like A the best. I think you should use what you like. (and if someone thinks it is too small, they can change the text size themselves - on my pc explorer window, it's under view, text size and they can select larger or largest) When I select "larger" on my pc, A turns into B.

Love your blog by the way - found it recently - when Whitey got her chicks! Great pics of the farm and your food!

I like B, but with my browser settings it only differs from C in Para 1 with its closer leading. No size difference.

It might help to remember that people can set their browsers to override what you supply. They will be able to make things larger or smaller on their own too. I don't read the feed version -- but those folks might have less flexibility and that would help decide.

Hope the sheep are doing OK in all this heat here in MO. Ours spend most of the day in front of their fans and go eating at night.

If you use Firefox as a browser, to increase the size of the font on a web page just hold down the control key and press the + (plus) key. You can do the opposite using control - (minus) key. Just thought I would pass this along.

January 2013 update: I know word verification is a big pain, but it's the only way I can stop the ridiculous number of anonymous spam comments I get every day. I don't want to require commenters to be registered Blogger or Open ID users because I know many of you aren't. Thanks so much for your understanding!

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

If you're waiting for a reply to your comment and have a Blogger profile (it's free to create one) you can check the NOTIFY ME box that is below and receive all follow up comments to just this specific post via email.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!